


A Raider's Life For Me

by Mordukai



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Drug Use, F/M, Graphic Description, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Minor Character Death, Nuka-World Amusement Park (Fallout), Pining, Post Institute Destruction, Romance, Slaves, Slow Burn, alcohol use, cappy's cafe, kidnap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:02:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24057940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mordukai/pseuds/Mordukai
Summary: Sole Survivor Liza Fratelli is angry with the Commonwealth, the Institute (now destroyed) and the world that stole away her husband and her baby boy. Becoming overboss of the Nuka-World raiders was just what she needed. Porter Gage just needed someone to be the face of his machinations; someone he could manipulate from behind the scenes. Liza seemed perfect. But Gage didn't expect to fall in love. But he doesn't really know anything about Liza, or her past. All he knows is that she wears a wedding ring, and someone or something has hurt her, badly. When everything they've built together comes under threat of destruction, will that bring them closer together, or push them further apart?
Relationships: Porter Gage/Female Sole Survivor
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

He hadn’t been expecting to fall in love, that was for sure. A means to an end, that was all it was supposed to be. Someone to take out Colter. Someone to puppet from behind the scenes. Someone to restore the glory to Nuka-World, to kick the gangs into order. Someone to wear the target painted on their back rather than him. 

Someone expendable, easily replaced, just like Colter had been. 

Liza was a lot of things, but expendable was not one of them.

Mornings at the Fizztop Grille were always cold. The wind cut through the open front of the overboss’s apartment. Dawn was breaking, the sun orange as it peaked out over the theme park. It was looking to be a nice day, when it warmed up a little, but for now, Gage was cold.

He had wondered whether Liza would choose somewhere else to stay. Somewhere without a draft. Once they had cleared out the park, she had the run of the place, after all. He had even wondered if she would fuck back off to the Commonwealth. But she had taken to raiding like a mirelurk to water. To be honest, Gage didn’t feel like he was in control of her anymore. She was no longer following his directions, and was leading the raiders like she was, well, the overboss. If it had been anyone else, he would have been worried. Shit, perhaps he was going soft, catching feelings like this. It wasn’t like they were reciprocated, after all. 

He sat in a chair and waited for her to wake up. He tried not to stare; wouldn’t want her to wake up and spot him gazing at her like a lovesick puppy. But it was hard not to look. The only time she ever looked at peace was when she slept. Sometimes the nightmares would hit, but this morning she was sleeping soundly. Gage wondered what she could have witnessed that was that bad. Shit, they all had their demons, but he knew that she had been a vault dweller. She still wore her vault suit sometimes, although it was beginning to fall apart now. It wasn’t like she had spent her life fighting for survival out in the Commonwealth. She had lived in a vault, a cushy, safe vault.

So what had happened?

So far, she hadn’t told him. He hadn’t asked outright, hadn’t wanted to piss her off, kept hoping she would just tell him of her own accord.

Her eyes flew open.

Shit, he was staring. He turned away, stared resolutely at the power armour stand instead.

She was out of bed quickly. She wasn’t one for lie ins. He could hear her changing, felt his neck and cheeks flush red as he avoided looking over at her. See, this was why he knew his feelings weren’t reciprocated. It was like he wasn’t even there.

“Morning boss,” he said, when she had finished dressing.

“Where to today?” she asked, grabbing a box of fancy lads snack cakes from the counter and tearing into it.

Gage pulled a face. “I can’t believe you actually enjoy eating those, boss,” he said, watching as she stuffed the food into her mouth. “We could get some real food, you know.”

“They remind me of home,” said Liza, through a mouthful of food. Ah, a vault thing, thought Gage. Just something else he didn’t understand. Pre war food was fine if you were starving, hell, he’d eaten his fare share of tinned crap over the years, but they weren’t starving, not anymore. Not now they were top of the pile in Nuka-World.

“A bunch of Operators have got themselves into a spot of trouble,” he said, as Liza climbed into her power armour suit. “Seems there are Gunners at the Bradberton Overpass, and Mags sent some of her people out to clear ‘em out.”

“I take it that didn’t go quite to plan,” said Liza, her voice distorted by the power armour.

Gage shook his head. “You got it in one, boss. Mags sent a runner over here first thing, apparently her people didn’t check in when they were supposed to. Wants to pull in a favour, see if you’ll go check it out.”

Liza sighed. “I never figured being overboss would mean running errands, but I guess we haven’t got anything better to do.”

-

Nuka-World was looking so good. So healthy. There was a steady flow of caps changing hands in the market place, and regular trade in enslaved wastelanders. Gage noticed that Liza tried to ignore that side of raiding. It bothered him. Like she wanted all the fun parts, the caps and the glory, being top of the world, without the nasty stuff that kept them there. If they didn’t take slaves, kill people, assert dominance, then they’d never get to stay in charge. But Liza seemed so good at turning a blind eye without compromising her position, so he hadn’t mentioned it to her. Perhaps he just didn’t want to say anything that might make her leave. Leave Nuka-World? No, he admitted to himself. Leave him. He didn’t want her to leave him.

Liza was an intimidating sight in all that power armour. She was pretty scrawny without it. Wasteland life would do that to you. And without the armour she was shorter than Gage. With it, she was a massive metal monster, larger than him in every way, and he had to lengthen his strides just to keep up with her. It did the job; no one gave him a second look, they were too busy ducking out of the way of the overboss. But he preferred her out of the armour. He liked to see her face, usually blood and dirt stained but still beautiful, with big dark eyes and jet black hair. Her hair looked the softest after she showered, and god, Gage would do anything to run his hands through it.

They quickly left the bustle of Nuka-Town behind them, striding out into the wastes. Gage kept one hand on his rifle, and his good eye peeled for anything untoward. Anything could attack them outside of the town. Of course the worst case scenario would be a pack of deathclaws, but even molerats pissed Gage off.

“All right?” he asked Liza, mainly to fill the silence that was stretching out between them as they trudged on towards the overpass.

“Yup,” said Liza, keeping her gaze fixed straight ahead. Or at least, Gage assumed she was looking straight ahead. It was hard to tell with that massive ass helmet.

“Nice day,” said Gage, and then rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. It was cloudy, there was a bitter chill to the air, and the place reeked of decay and radiation.

Liza laughed. “Yes, it’s-” But she cut herself off and dropped down to one knee. Gage dropped down beside her. “Blood,” she said. “Fresh.” She looked further. “And shell casings. How far are we from the overpass?”

Gage looked around, getting his bearings. “About a mile, I’d say.” He peered into the distance, where he could see the broken pieces of the overpass jutting out against the grey sky. A trickle of smoke was streaming up into the sky.

“How likely is it that that’s the Operators, having a barbeque after wiping out the Gunners?” Liza asked.

“About as likely as hatching a bloodbug from a mirelurk egg,” said Gage.

“Thought so.” Liza sighed. “Alright, Gage, let’s go and kick some ass. Guns blazing?”

“Guns blazing,” said Gage in agreement. No point hiding their approach; they would be visible as soon as they got any closer. “Let’s go, boss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short first chapter, others will potentially be longer (hopefully). I have a plan for 9 chapters total, but who knows, I usually underestimate how many chapters I need.


	2. Chapter 2

As they approached the Bradberton overpass, Gage kept his eyes open for anyone attacking from the sides. None of the Commonwealth raiders could even hold a torch to the Nuka-World gangs, but if these Gunners really had wiped out a troop of Operators then Gage wasn’t going to take them lightly.

“Gage?”

His head snapped round. Someone had called his name, and it wasn’t Liza.

“Porter Gage?”

The voice came again. It was a low hiss, and it was coming from somewhere to his left.

“Hey, boss,” he said, resting a hand on the heavy metal of Liza’s armoured arm. “Hold up a second.”

Liza stopped. “What is it?”

Gage motioned towards where the voice had come from. They were passing beside a broken down house, roofless with fallen in walls. “Someone’s there, an Operator, I think.”

“Did you see them?”

“No,” said Gage, moving towards the building. “She called my name.”

Liza hurried over, ducking round a tumbledown wall and into the building. Gage followed her.

Behind the wall, bleeding out onto a mouldy rug, sat a woman. She was dressed in Operator gear, and her arm hung limply at her side.

“Overboss,” she said, when she saw Liza. Her voice came out as a hiss, through the obvious pain that she was in. “Thank fuck.”

Liza pulled off her helmet and set it down beside her. “What happened?” she asked.

“Gunners,” said the woman. Her lips were beginning to turn blue, and she shook as she spoke. “They have… they have a…” her voice trailed off, her eyes turning glassy, as she stared into the space above Liza’s shoulder.

Gage dug into the pack strapped to his leg and pulled out a handful of med supplies. “Here,” he said, crouching down. He wrapped a bandage around the woman’s shoulder, compressing the wound, trying to stop the blood flow. “Hold that, boss,” he said, and Liza reached out an armour clad hand and gripped the bandage to the wound firmly. “Got a stimpack in here somewhere,” he said, digging through the pack again. Not enough stimpacks, though. Perhaps he should save them for the two of them, for the upcoming fight. If Liza got hurt, and he was out… He didn’t want to think about that. He shouldn’t care about that. Death happened in the wasteland. It was a fact of life. It was the only fact of life that was consistent. Death followed Gage. He glanced at Liza. Her face had lost its hardness, and she was looking down at the injured Operator with compassion.

“What’s your name?” she asked gently. “Stay with me, tell me your name.”

The Operator blinked, and for a moment her eyes looked clearer. “Darla,” she said, and then she coughed, spitting up blood.

Internal bleeding. Damnit, without the stimpack she had no chance of surviving, of making it back to Nuka-Town.

“Darla. Ok, Darla, you’re ok. Tell me what happened to you.” Liza’s voice was so gentle, and something strange stirred inside Gage. Some softness that he had buried years ago.

“God damnit,” he muttered, and pulled the stimpack out of his bag. He jabbed it into Darla’s neck and injected the medicine. He wasn’t entirely sure how the things worked, but he knew that whatever the drug was, it had the ability to drag people back from the brink of death. It would keep her alive until they could get her back to town, and into Mackenzie’s capable hands.  
After a moment, the stimpack seemed to start working, and a tiny amount of colour returned to Darla’s cheeks.

“The others…” she said, her voice still shaky.

“Go on,” said Liza.

“The others… there was this… robot thing… like a woman, but all metal…” She coughed again, spitting up more blood. “It shot lasers at us. It burned… so bad…” She gestured to her legs. Gage had been focused on the bleeding shoulder wound, but now he realised that her trousers were burnt away at parts, revealing red, blistering patches of skin beneath,

“An assaultron,” said Liza, standing up. “Where the fuck did the Gunners get one of those from?”

“You’ve seen one before?” asked Gage.

“Fought one. More than one. They’re not fun.”

“The others… might still be alive…” croaked Darla. There was sweat beading on her forehead.

“Hush,” said Liza. “Lay here. Stay still, stay quiet. Me and Gage, we’ll sort this out. And we’ll come back for you, get you home safe.”

“Thanks… overboss…” Darla’s eyes closed. Her breathing sounded laboured, and Gage hoped that she would be able to hold on long enough. He knew from experience that Liza didn’t like to lose people, not if she could help it.

Liza pulled her helmet back on. “Let’s go, Gage.”

“You got it, boss.”

-

He held his rifle up to his eye, lined up the shot. The Gunners were hanging back, clearly relying on their glorified robot to do the hard work for them. Liza was beside him, laser rifle firing at the assaultron. Gage fired, and watched as the bullet pinged off the assaultron’s metal casing, barely leaving a scratch.

“This thing is tough, boss.”

“Aim for the legs,” yelled Liza, ducking out of the way of the laser beam firing from the assaultron’s flowing red eye. “They’re fast little shits. Cripple it so it can’t leap at us. I’ll take out the core.”

Another laser beam concentrated on Liza, and this time she wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way.

“Aagh!”

The beam hit her left arm, and the metal armour turned red, grew hot, buckled under the onslaught.

“Keep firing,” she yelled, and Gage obeyed. Bullets whizzed past his ears; the Gunners were firing from behind the makeshift buildings on top of the overpass. They had taken the elevator up, and had been instantly faced with the assaultron. So far, Gage hadn’t spotted any of the Operators, but he also hadn’t seen any bodies.

A bullet sped towards him and slammed into the metal cage armour he was wearing.

“Shit, that was close.” He returned fire, his bullets ripping into the Gunner’s chest. The man dropped to the ground, a surprised expression on his face. “Take that, you piece of shit.” He returned his focus to the assaultron. It was closer now. He could hear its laser powering up, and there was a scent of burning in the air. He fired at its legs again and again and again. Finally, one of his bullets pierced the armour, slicing through the robot’s joint, and one of its legs buckled beneath it. Its arms were extended, bladed hands rotating. Sunlight glinted off the sharp metal, and Gage could see the dried blood on the blade’s edges. He fired desperately at its other leg as it lurched towards him. The sound of the laser was louder, faster, more frantic. The eye glowed brighter. Gage pumped the trigger until his ammo was out, the trigger just clicking empty, empty, empty. And then the eye exploded, glass and metal shooting out, and the assaultron was finally still. 

“Got the fucker!” said Liza from beside him. He glanced over at her. Her power armour was badly damaged, and he could see her through gaps that shouldn’t have been there. She didn’t look injured though. 

“Let’s get those Gunners,” he said, reloading his gun and moving purposefully along the overpass, hoping that Liza was following him.

-

It didn’t take them long to root out the rest of the Gunners. Without their toy robot they were no match for Gage and his overboss. Gage took great pleasure in shooting the last one in the back of the head as he tried to run away like a coward.

“Oh no,” said Liza. She had removed her helmet; the display had been so badly damaged that it was a liability to continue wearing it. She had laid it down on the floor beside the body she was gazing at. 

Gage looked closer. The flesh had been badly burned but the left side of the man’s face was unharmed, one glassy eye staring up, unseeing.

“I know him,” said Gage. “Ollie. One of Mags’ men.”

“He’s a boy,” said Liza softly. “A child.”

Gage looked back at Ollie’s body. The kid couldn’t have been older than seventeen, Gage knew. But raiders lived tough lives. Seventeen was a man by raiders standards. Just another reminder that Liza was new to this way of life. 

“We need to get back to Darla. Get her home, speak to Mags.”

Liza dragged her eyes away from the body.

“We can’t leave him here.”

Gage resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Mags will send some men out, now the Gunners are gone. Deal with him and the others Operator style. But you can still help Darla, you get me?”

Liza nodded.

“They can loot the place, too. I’ll make sure you get your cut.”

“Ours,” said Liza.

“Huh?”

“Our cut.” She turned away from Ollie’s body and picked her helmet up from the ground. Gage followed her.

-

Darla was still alive. Liza hoisted her limp body up into a fireman’s lift and carried her back to Nuka-Town. She was feverish, mumbling inaudibly under her breathe. Gage was relieved when they finally delivered her into Mackenzie’s capable hands.

“Only her?” asked Mags.

Liza nodded. “The Gunners had an assaultron, got everyone else before we arrived. But we cleared them out. It’s safe to… retrieve them.” Gage was impressed with how steady her voice was, although he heard the slight hesitation at the end.

Mags nodded, and turned away.

“Come on boss,” Gage said softly. “Let’s go.”

-

He noticed it after she had climbed out of her power armour. It would need extensive maintenance. Beneath, her body was sweaty and dirty, and she stripped down to her underwear before wrapping a blanket around herself. As she lifted the blanket, Gage realised that her ring was missing. The plain silver band that she had always worn, for as long as he had known her. He had never seen her take it off ever, for any reason.

“Did you lose it, boss?” he asked.

“What?”

“Your ring.”

“Oh…” Liza glanced down at her hand as if she hadn’t realised that it was missing. “No, I… I took it off.” She looked sad for a moment, but then smiled at Gage. “Doesn’t do to dwell on the past.”

“No, I guess not.”

“Gage?”

“Yes, boss?”

“You’re bleeding.” She reached out her hand, touched the side of his face. Her hands were soft against his rough, weathered skin. He swallowed, trying not to betray his feelings. “Does it hurt?”

He almost shook his head, but didn’t want to displace her hand. “No,” he managed to say, the word catching in his throat.

“You should get it cleaned up,” she said. And then she had let go of him, and had laid down on her bed. He waited, but she didn’t say anything else. After a while, he realised that she had fallen asleep.

If he had been a braver man he would have… No, bravery had nothing to do with it. These feelings weren’t conducive to their working relationship. He left the room and headed out of the Fizztop Grille. The scratch on his cheek wasn’t deep, and had probably just been caused by shrapnel from the assaultron explosion. He headed to Cappy’s Cafe. He needed a drink before he would be able to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Gage sat in a dark corner of Cappy’s Cafe, nursing a bottle of beer. The room was loud, smoky, unbearable, filled with idiots drinking and spacing out on Day Tripper. At least he hadn’t spotted anyone hopped up on Jet or Psycho this evening. Fucking chems. Him and the Overboss were doing everything they could to hold the Nuka-World gangs together, and they were doing everything in their power to tear themselves apart. It made him sick.

He got it, to some degree though. Wasn’t he drowning his sorrows in beer, here? Was that really any better? He took a swig of his drink. He was tempted to get something stronger, something that would numb the pain he was feeling. Fuck it, he had dealt with worse than this. Lost people, been betrayed, been hurt. Abused and taken advantage of. It happened in raider gangs, came with the territory. He was a survivor. But part of being a survivor meant hardening your heart, and something about Liza was tearing down all of the walls he had built up around himself. He wouldn’t go as far as chems, but a bottle of vodka was a tempting option.

“Hey, Dawkins,” he grunted at the scruffy guy in the shock collar who was waiting on tables.

The guy gave him a terrified look, but shuffled over to the table.

“What can I get you, Gage?” he asked.

“Vodka,” said Gage. “Now,” he said, snapping his fingers, when Dawkins didn’t move.

“On it,” said Dawkins, and hurried away. Gage watched him leave and make his way over to the bar. Since the takeover the caps had been rolling in, and for once in his life Gage didn’t need to worry about when the next pay-out would be. Not that he had to pay up front in Nuka-Town, given his status. Lauren would add it to his tab, and it would all get sorted out later. He could drink himself into a stupor and it wouldn’t matter.

He picked at the table with the point of his knife. God, everything in Nuka-Town could do with a nice shiny overhaul now the caps were flowing again, but raiders didn’t seem to give a shit about any of that. Everything was broken and dirty. Liza had told him that not everywhere in the Commonwealth was this bad, but Gage had never seen any of it for himself, so he wasn’t sure whether or not she was telling the truth. But he was usually pretty good about sniffing out liars, and Liza didn’t feel like a liar.

“Here you go, boss,” said Dawkins. He was holding out an opened bottle of vodka and smiling at Gage. Clearly Lauren had talked some sense into him at the bar, reminded him to be cheerful; it didn’t do to piss off raiders. Gage wondered what had got him down in the first place. Dawkins didn’t usually let his personal feelings show when he was working.

He took the bottle and grunted in appreciation. Dawkins hurried away, towards some rowdy raiders on the other side of the room who looked like they needed more drinks.

Gage stared at the bottle for a while, contemplating. It had been a while since he had gotten himself black out drunk. Before Liza, if he recalled correctly. Since Liza, his life had been a whirlwind. They had fought together, cleared the park of all its dangers side by side. Took out the Pack and Mason when the man started getting too big for his fucking boots. Revived Nuka-Town. They had even stepped out into the Commonwealth. There were Operators at the Slog now, and scouts out searching for a decent place for the Disciples to claim as their own. Perhaps one day the Nuka-World gangs would rule the entire Commonwealth as well. Even he hadn’t dared to dream that big, not until Liza arrived.

He took a gulp from the bottle. The alcohol burned his throat as he swallowed it, and he felt the fire in his stomach instantly. He took another gulp and smiled bitterly. Yes, this was making him feel better, if numbing feelings counted as feeling better. He downed the rest of the bottle and waved his hand at Dawkins.

“Another one,” he grunted, and Dawkins hurried off obligingly.

-

He wasn’t sure what time it was. Late. That was all he knew. Empty bottles littered the table in front of him. His head was spinning, and his thoughts were moving so slowly, like someone had poured sludge in his ears. He moved his hand, tried to grab at his drink, but he misjudged it. His hand smacked into the bottle, sending it careening off the table where it smashed on the floor at someone’s feet. He looked up, bleary eyed.

“Sorry, mate,” he slurred, reaching out to pat the man’s arm.

The man slapped him away. “The fuck!” he shouted, slurring a little himself.

Gage stumbled to his feet. “Watch your mouth,” he spat out, feeling the aggression kicking in despite being hidden under a thick layer of booze. 

“Sorry, boss, he didn’t mean it,” said a woman, pushing herself in between the man and Gage, trying to break them up.

Gage tried to punch the man, but he lost his balance in the swing and pummelled his fist into the woman’s shoulder.

“You fucking prick,” screamed the man, and shoved Gage hard in the chest.

Everything after that was a blur of punches and kicks, until Gage found himself being shoved out of the cafe and into a disgruntled heap on the cold ground outside. 

“Go sober yourself up, big guy,” said Lauren, and closed the door on him.

If he hadn’t been so drunk, then he would have… done something. Shown her… or something. He couldn’t think straight. As it was, he took a deep breath, letting the cold air clear his head a little, and then pulled himself unsteadily to his feet. Lauren Plummer was a fiery one, and if he wasn’t so drunk he’d have her in a shock collar. That she wasn’t already was testament to the fine line she was walking on. 

He lifted his hand to his head. There was something sticky. He brought his hand away, looked at it. Blood. His blood? He reached back up. Yes, there was a gash across his head. It was bleeding, but he wasn’t sure how badly. 

“Fuck,” he muttered. He looked around. He could still hear noise coming from inside the cafe, but outside was empty. He stumbled back to the Fizztop Grille.

-

Gage pushed open the downstairs double doors. He was trying to be quiet, and winced at the clanging sound of one of the doors smashing into the wall as it swung open. He glanced about, but there was no one around. Since the gangs had spread out across Nuka-World, there was more space for everyone, and whilst in the past the Fizztop Grille had usually had at least a handful of stragglers hanging around at night, now it was usually just him and Liza. Who was currently upstairs, and hopefully asleep.

Gage searched for a med kit. He knew they had one stashed somewhere, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember where, and he was feeling rather dizzy and nauseous. The world was spinning, and he decided that he would have a rest, just for a moment. He slumped down against the wall. That was better. He decided he would close his eyes too. Just for a moment. Just for a rest. Just… until…

-

“Gage!”

Gage opened his eyes. “Wha-?”

“What the hell happened to you?”

Liza was crouched beside him, dabbing something at his face. He pawed at her, tried to push her away.

“I’m… fine…” It was hard to speak. His head felt like it was stuffed full of mud, his mouth was dry and everything ached so much.

“There’s so much blood. Gage, what happened to you?”

“Bar fight,” he mumbled. He stopped trying to fight and let Liza do whatever she needed to do. “I don’t remember.”

Liza cleaned out the wound on his head, and he hissed from the stinging pain.

“Fuck,” he said, through gritted teeth.

“You’ve taken a glass bottle to the head, by the looks of it. Stay still, or should I get the doctor?”

Gage shook his head. Even that movement hurt. What the fuck had happened to him? He remembered punching someone, and noise and movement, and he remembered sitting outside the cafe, and he remembered coming home. But nothing else.

“Hold still,” said Liza. She pressed a dressing to his head, wrapped a bandage round to hold it in place. “Head wounds bleed like a bitch. It’s probably not as bad as it looks.” She looked at him. “At least they didn’t get your other eye.” She raised a hand, gently brushed his cheek with her finger.

Gage took in a sharp breath. He didn’t want to move, didn’t want to ruin the moment.

“Anyway,” said Liza, dropping her hand and looking away. “You need a stimpack or do you think you’ll be alright?”

“I’ll be alright, boss,” said Gage, his voice rough.

“Good. Get some sleep.” She stood up, turned to leave. Before he could stop himself he reached out and grabbed her hand.

“Wait,” he said, but then his mind went blank. She looked at him expectantly, but he couldn’t say anything, just gazed up at her longingly. 

“What?” she said, sounding slightly irritated, but she didn’t pull her hand out of his grasp. Her hand that was still so soft despite all of the time she’d spent in the wasteland. Her hand that no longer wore the silver wedding band.

“I-” The word caught in his throat. “Do you need me to come up?” He wasn’t sure what he was asking. To spend the night with her? To guard her? To talk to her? To… What did he even want?

Her face hardened.

“I’m fine, Gage,” she said. “Get some rest, you need it.” And she left him alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is short again, the backstreet boys reunion tour has drained the creativity from me. This was not what I had planned for this chapter at all :')


End file.
